Kylian Mbappe transfer news: Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal submit record bid of $332 million PSG star

After missing out on Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabian football team Al-Hilal on Monday launched a record 300 million euro ($332 million) bid for Kylian Mbappe, which could see the France striker join Cristiano Ronaldo in the oil-rich kingdom.

Paris Saint-Germain confirmed their offer for the player and have given Al-Hilal permission to open direct talks with Mbappe.

The 2018 World Cup winner is in a contract impasse with PSG following their decision not to take up the option of a 12-month extension on his deal. Instead, he plans to leave as a free agent at the end of the upcoming season, when he is widely expected to join Real Madrid. (Watch: Lionel Messi Scores Last-Minute Winner on MLS Debut for Inter Miami After Meeting NBA Legend LeBron James)

cre trending stories

PSG dropped Mbappe from their preseason tour of Japan on Saturday after the French club decided to sell him unless he can be persuaded to sign a new contract.

Al-Hilal’s bid would make Mbappe the most expensive footballer in history, surpassing the $262 million paid by PSG for Neymar when the team signed the Brazilian from Barcelona in 2017.

The bid represents Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious move yet as part of a determined recruitment drive to lure the game’s biggest players to the country.

Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Roberto Firmino are among big names to move to Saudi Arabia’s lucrative league after Ronaldo agreed a deal with Al-Nassr in December.

After leaving PSG, Messi chose MLS team Inter Miami over Al-Hilal. But many players have taken this step and more are expected to do so before the start of next season. Premier League stars such as Riyad Mahrez and Jordan Henderson have been linked with moves.

Saudi Arabia has tried to make its way into international sports in recent years. Besides Ronaldo, whose contract reportedly earns him up to $200 million a year, the Saudi-funded LIV Golf has shaken up professional golf.

The moves are part of efforts by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to leverage the kingdom’s oil wealth to provide new jobs and opportunities for Saudi Arabia’s youth.

However, critics have dismissed these efforts as ‘sportwashing’, an attempt to leverage professional sports to clean up the image of the state as one of the world’s top executioners and waging a years-long war in Yemen.

US intelligence agencies also believe that Prince Mohammed ordered the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.